


911: Fairbanks

by FireflySummerwynd



Series: First Responders [2]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV), Mötley Crüe, Poison (US Band)
Genre: EMS, Fire, M/M, Multi, Police, dispatcher - Freeform, first responder
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:14:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29764983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireflySummerwynd/pseuds/FireflySummerwynd
Summary: After being outed to their bosses in regardsta their sexual orientation, the trio of first responders make a big move they'd been considering, evenbeforethey were outed. They're all hoping that part of their Lives doesn't take a chunk outta their asses as they start their new jobs in a new State, and so are the friends who moved with them.If all goes well, this might just be the last move they ever make–both in careerandwhere they all call home. But will they be able to survive the extreme cold of Alaska after the insanely short Summer, which's when all the crazies seem to pour outta the woodwork?
Relationships: Bobby Dall/Duff McKagan, Grace Ryder/Judd Ryder (9-1-1 Lone Star), Nikki Sixx/Bobby Dall, Nikki Sixx/Duff McKagan
Series: First Responders [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2187651
Comments: 6
Kudos: 1





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> This is the sequel to my story, _911: Wolf Lodge._ I'd seriously suggest reading that one first, 'cuz while I Intend them to be easily read on their own, there're a few details from this one's predecessor that're being carried over.  
> ~Firefly

_March, 1994_

_Fairbanks, Alaska_

Two months after getting the one piece of news he’d hoped he never would, Lt. Nikki Sixx took a deep breath that was released in a heavy sigh. At thirty-six Years old, he’d busted his assta climb to the rank he held over the course of his career, which was split between two different police departments–till now. He hoped the Fairbanks Police Department was the last one he’d work at–that it was the one he’d get to _retire_ at–but after what’d happened a couple months ago, he knew that kinda thing wasn’t guaranteed.

Being a gay man wasn’t exactly easy, but he’d managed to live his Life as if he was like any other guy on the forces he’d previously joined. Nobody save his dearly departed grandparents’d known that he was gay till he came out to his entire hometown of Jerome, Idaho. After that, nobody save his boyfriends’d known that about him–till a fireman with an axe to grind outed all three of them in the small Town of Wolf Lodge, Idaho.

Rolling his shoulders again, the twice-transplanted cop finally opened the door of his personal truck and stepped out. Before bothering to lock his doors, he opened the back door, a smile curving his lips as he heard tags jingling and a happy _ruff_. Moments later, Whiskey’d planted himself on his haunches next to him, looking up as he waited for him to either grab his leash or unclip it from his collar. He couldn’t help a laugh as he reached down to scratch his ears, ’cuz that was one of the things he loved about his Dog. Even though he was a territorial German Shepherd and would stop at nothing to take out a threat, he was as ground-tied as the Horses he’d grown up with.

Once his doors were closed and locked, Nikki grabbed the leash attached to his collar more so for formality than ’cuz he actually needed to. The Dog roseta follow him, quickly putting himself at his side as they headed toward the building that housed their destination. He refused to trail behind him as much as he refused to be the leader unless they were on the trail of a suspect. As far as he’d ever been able to tell, his Dog was more of a human in a canine suit, ’cuz they’d a connection like none other and he’d always seemed to consider them equals.

“Good Morn.”

Pausing in front of the desk dead ahead of him when he walked into the building, the cop mimed tipping a hat since he wasn’t actually wearing one. “Morn, miss.”

“Sir, actually,” the body in front of him laughed. “But don’t worry about it–I get that all the Time, so I’m used to it.”

“I’m still gonna apologize,” Nikki chuckled. “My dearly departed _nonna_ woulda kick my ass from beyond the grave, if I didn’t.”

“Sounds about like _my_ grama, if that’s what _nonna_ means,” he told him.

“That, it does,” the cop confirmed.

“Name’s Ashley,” he said. “Where can I directcha since I can tell ya dunno where you’re going?”

“First Day on the job, Ashley,” he answered. “Just moved here from Northern Idaho not too long ago and wanted to get settled in at home before I dared start my new job.”

“Ah, Lt. Nikki Sixx, right?” Ashley queried after turning to a computer.

“That’s me,” the cop answered, nodding.

“C’mon with me, then,” he told him. “Grampa’s the Chief, and he’s waiting on ya in his office.”

“A family affair, _hmm?”_ Nikki chuckled. “Can’t say that’s a bad thing, as big as Italians are on family in pretty much every way.”

Laughing as he nodded and led him off, the younger male–whom he’d have sworn was around the age of sixteen, at best–admitted that this department almost _was_ a family business. His grampa’d moved up here almost two decades ago as a Lieutenant after putting in ten Years as a Texas Ranger. After that, a few other family members who were in law enforcement’d moved up here, and they made up easily half the department now.

Ashley gave him a quick warning that his grampa was more than a bit of a hard-ass who expected no lies, and that everything be done by the book. If he found out something about him later on that he wasn’t forthcoming about now, it might just cost him his job, even if it wasn’t illegal. But that was the cop who didn’t like lying suspects in him more so than his grampa not liking him personally.

Nodding, the cop waited till he left to bother knocking on the door he’d led him to, Whiskey sitting obediently at his side. It was only a few moments before said door opened to reveal a man who’d to be in his sixties at the youngest unless the job’d just aged him that much. But he didn’t really care about that as he looked down at him from his formidable, imposing height, which he couldn’t do anything about. He was more concerned with being able to start his new job and live his Life in Peace and quiet when he wasn’t on-duty.

“How can I help ya, son?” the elderly man queried, his Texan accent as thick as Judd’s and Grace’s.

“Lt. Sixx,” Nikki answered, shifting the leash he held so he could shake the man’s hand.

“Ah, my new hire from Idaho,” he chuckled, accepting the handshake. “Chief William Roberts, but just call me Billy unless we’re on a scene.”

“Then just call me Nikki,” the cop told him.

“Who ya got with ya today?” Chief Roberts asked as he let him into his office.

“This’d be my Dog, Whiskey,” he chuckled. “I brought him with me for a couple different reasons.”

“That so, huh?” The Chief cocked a brow curiously as he settled behind his desk.

“First and foremost, I trust no other Dog when I’m on the job,” Nikki answered with a nod. “He’s the best canine partner I’ve ever had since I got outta BLET in 1982.”

“I’m sure you’ve had a few since then,” he mused, his expression turning thoughtful.

“Five, including Whiskey, to be exact,” the cop answered. “Never had quite the connection with the other four that I’ve developed with him.”

“Which’s an important aspect of having a canine unit,” Chief Roberts said.

“Well I know it, sir,” he agreed. “But there’s another aspect that makes me trust him more than any other Dog.”

“And what’s that?” the Chief queried. “’Cuz if it’s gonna affect your performance, I need to know about it.”

“He’s as much my on-the-job partner as a service Dog,” Nikki explained. “It wasn’t till I fell out in front of my very first Chief down in Jerome that I got diagnosed with hypoglycemia.”

His new boss’ eyes widened considerably as he listened.

“Whiskey’s trained not only as a police Dog, but to get me help, if and when I need it,” the cop continued. “He’s even been trained to use my radio to send out his own distress signal, if my sugar drops low enough to make me pass out behind the wheel.”

“Oh, really?” Chief Roberts chuckled. “That’s an impressive feat for a Dog.”

Nodding his agreement, he explained how he’d purposely trained him to do that in the event that he needed help, but couldn’t call for it, himself. He always requested the unit number _six-six-six_ wherever he wound up employed as a pun on his surname, as well as ’cuz he was a bit of an evil shit once a suspect pissed him off enough. To that End, he’d trained his Dog to bite his mic in three consecutive groups of six so that it’d sound like someone was looking for an opening to say something. Anyone who knew the signal or was smart enough to count and put the pieces together could figure out that it wasn’t him, but the German Shepherd requesting help so it could be dispatched.

The Chief couldn’t help a laugh as he admitted that that was a pretty unique way of getting help for himself when he was physically incapable. In fact, he’d never heard of an officer managing to train a Dog like that in all his Years of service with any force. Such a feat actually sounded closer to impossible than it didn’t to him, but he’d apparently managed to do just that so well that pretty much anybody’d be amazed by the story.

Grinning, Nikki admitted that it’d taken him a couple Yearsta get Whiskey properly trained like that on top of the service Dog training he’d already had when he got him. It hadn’t been easy–if anything, it’d been frustrating enough to cause more than a few headaches–but it was worth it when it was all said and done. For that reason, he didn’t trust anyone else–not even a human partner–as much as he trusted the Dog who’d decided to lay down with his nose on one booted foot. The fact that he was so well-behaved unless threatened on top of it only Strengthened the bond they had with one another.

“Well, I gotta put both of y’all through your pacesta see just how well y’all work together, all the same, Lieutenant,” Chief Roberts told him.

“Trust me, I was expecting that,” he said, unable to help a chuckle. “I mean, I’ma new hire, and I came in with my own partner on top of it–I’d expect nothing less.”

“But before we get into that, I gotta ask–anything else I need to know about?” the Chief queried, shooting him a no-nonsense look. “’Cuz if there is and I find out about it later on, you’re _gonna_ be fired on the spot.”

“So I was warned by your grandson before he even led me to your door,” Nikki admitted. “Honestly, there’s only one thing, and I normally wouldn’t admit to it.”

His new boss cocked a brow curiously and motioned for him to continue.

“I didn’t put it on my application since I didn’t think it was anyone’s business, but I’m actually gay,” the cop told him. “As in, like and date men exclusively, gay.”

“That cause problems for ya elsewhere, Lieutenant?” Chief Roberts asked, his brow still cocked.

Taken by surprise, it took him a moment to respond. “My last job in Wolf Lodge, Idaho. Somebody ratted me and both my boyfriends out, and all three of our bosses decided to terminate us right before we moved up here.”

“Well, son, I’ma tell ya what,” the Chief said. “Personally, I don’t agree with that kinda Lifestyle–I’ma Christian man from the Texas Hill country, after all. But as long as it don’t affect your performance and judgment on the job, I don’t give a shit if ya like guys, girls, or both.”

Nikki couldn’t help holding his breath, feeling like there was a big ol’ _but_ coming as he nodded.

“That said, I hate folks who discriminate for stupid reasons like that worse than I hate anyone who practices that kinda Lifestyle,” he continued with a chuckle. “I’d just as soon have a gay man with stellar morals and integrity on my force as a straight man who was shadier than a Texas shade Tree.”

“You’ve absolutely _no_ idea how much of a relief that is to hear, Chief,” the cop laughed, finally able to relax a bit.

“The way ya just relaxed enough to slide outta that chair tells me everything I need to know, son,” Chief Roberts laughed.

“Considering why I got fired from my last force completely outta the blue after putting in seven Years of service, ya can’t really blame me for reacting like that,” he pointed out.

Nodding his agreement, the Chief admitted that he’d have prolly felt the same way, were the roles reversed right now. But he was quick to reiterate that he didn’t care about his orientation, as long as he proved to be a good man at heart and an even better cop. Granted, he still needed to see how he and Whiskey worked together before he’d turn them loose in a patrol truck, but that was more so a formality than ’cuz he was being a hard-ass.

Grabbing his Dog’s leash as he nodded his agreement, Nikki admitted that he’d been expecting that, too. After all, it wasn’t like his new boss or anyone else on the force knew either one of them, let alone how well they could work together. It was pretty much a given that they’d both be tested before they were just turned looseta do the job he’d applied for.

Out in the canine training yard, Whiskey and his cop were both put through their paces so they could be judged on how well they did. Both man and Dog ignored the crowd of officers and other staff that came out to watch outta Curiosity, considering that most officers didn’t come already equipped with their own Dog. They focused Intently on proving their skill and partnership to Chief Roberts, who also wanted to test said Dog on his special training that he’d been told about. It prolly wasn’t gonna be the easiest thing to test out, considering that his human obviously wasn’t in any kinda distress at the moment.

But that opened up a door for the cop to prove just how good an actor he was, which could bode well, if he ever got assigned something that required him to go undercover. The gathered cops were all startled when he suddenly started acting like something was seriously wrong with him, right down to dropping to his knees before falling flat on his front. Naturally, his Dog let out a concerned bark before darting across the training yard to him, where he nudged his shoulder enough to get his nose wedged under it and roll him onto his back.

Even Chief Roberts was amazed when he ground out _Get…help_ before seemingly passing out where he lay on the ground. Letting out another bark, the Dog darted over to the nearest patrol car that a door’d been left open on and hopped into the driver’s seat. Seconds later, everybody heard his Universal code over their radios, only the Chief knowing what it meant as Whiskey bounded back over to his human. Said human sat up with a grin as he all but pounced on him and practically licked his face off, which earned him an ear-scratch. But it’d served to prove that he really _had_ been well-trained to get the cop help when he desperately needed it, just like he’d claimed. Now, the real test was gonna be turning them looseta actually do the job they’d both technically been hired to do.


	2. Two

Just two blocks away on the opposite side of the street, two more trucks’d just parked outside the local firehouse–well, the _main_ firehouse since there were other stations scattered throughout the City. Bobby and Duff were in one of those trucks, which belonged to the latter of the pair, while Judd and Richie were in the other. Regardless of which pair rode together, they’d all applied at the same department for one main reason as the others.

While the blonde and the Texan’d been hired as firefighters, the other pair were hired for the EMT side of the jobs they’d held in Idaho. But just like in that small Town they’d recently moved from, both those branches of first response were housed in the same building. Goddess only knew that they tended to work together a lil more often than they worked with law enforcement, so it made sense.

All four guys took deep breaths that they released in heavy sighs as they climbed outta their trucks so they could head into the firehouse. They were all nervous, which was Natural when anybody was walking in for their first Day on a new job. But if anyone was more nervous, it was undoubtedly the pair who made up just one side of a couple different triangles. It was understandable, considering how their tenure at their last firehouse’d come to End, so neither of the other guys with them blamed them for feeling that way.

“Deep breaths, sweetheart,” Duff murmured, gently rubbing his shorter boyfriend’s back.

“I know, I know, hon,” he sighed, straightening as he squared his shoulders.

“Y’all know we got your sixes, even if no one else does,” the Texan fireman chuckled, gently clapping him on the back.

“And that we’ll quit on the spot as opposed to remain employed where our friends aren’t welcome,” Richie added. “God knows my back’d like for me to just give in and say, _Fuck it_ – _living and working on a homestead’s hard enough.”_

“You’re too stubborn for that shit, andja know it, Rich,” the paramedic laughed.

“Doesn’t matter whether I am or not, ’cuz there’s the laugh I wanted,” he retorted with a grin.

“Well, let’s get in there,” Judd said. “Not like the firehouse’s coming out to greet us or anything.”

“Yeah, true enough, man,” the blonde fireman agreed, nodding. “Let’s get in there and just get it over with.”

“At least we’ve each other,” Bobby sighed as they headed in. “Nikki was totally on his own aside from Whiskey.”

“Ya know Whiskey’ll take care of his human, though,” the youngest man reminded him as he pulled open the front door of the firehouse.

Nodding his agreement, he followed Duff into the lobby of the building, where they all paused in front of the reception desk. The young woman currently manning it was dressed in one of the uniforms worn by the Fire crew, so they knew that either she was the only one available, or she’d been put on light duty recently. Either way, they didn’t particularly care about her circumstances since they were their business unless she made them such.

All four guys mimed tipping hatsta her as she looked up at them, the Texan fireman taking the lead since he’d done this kinda thing more Times than he cared to count. Thankfully, she pointed them straight to the Chief’s office and said that he was already waiting on them. She wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted to meet with them one at a Time or all at once, so they’d just have to knock and find out.

Judd nodded thanks on all their behalf as he turned for the door that’d been pointed out to them so he could knock on it. Even Richie was a lil nervous as he did just that, all of them figuratively holding their breath as they awaited an answer. That answer came moments later when the door swung inward to reveal a man that was prolly in his late-forties or early-fifties. Said man greeted them with a grin and waved all four of them in, which told them all they needed to know. He apparently wanted to get this over with all at once, rather than dragging it out, which was fine by all of them.

“Good Morn, gentlemen,” he said, settling behind his desk. “You’re my new recruits, right?”

“Two of us are, if you’re the Fire Chief,” the Texan fireman answered. “The other two belong to Chief Redstone.”

“Yeah, I’m Fire Chief Blackwood,” he chuckled. “Gimme just a sec, and I’ll call Chief Redstone in so we can get the pre-shift stuff settled real quick.”

All four of them nodded as he picked up the receiver of the telephone sitting on his desk.

“All right, gentlemen–he’s on his way, so I’ll go ahead and start with my firemen,” Chief Blackwood said.

“Judd Ryder,” the Texan told him as he extended his hand.

“Mike McKagan, but I usually don’t answer to anything but Duff,” the blonde chuckled as he followed suit.

“Duff, huh?” he queried. “Ya a _Simpsons_ fan or something?”

“Nah, childhood nickname, sir,” Duff answered. “Used to hang out with another Irish boy whose name was also Mike, so his grampa started calling me Duff to tell us apart.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” the Fire Chief said. “So, tell me a lil bit about yourselves.”

“I’m originally from Texas,” Judd told him. “Got tired of the Southern bigotry that came with marrying the Love of my Life just ’cuz Gracie’s a black woman.”

“I can understand wanting to get away from that,” Chief Blackwood mused, nodding.

“Originally from Seattle, but moved to Wolf Lodge, Idaho for a couple different reasons,” the blonde said. “Mostly ’cuz I was tired of being known pretty much _only_ as Mac McKagan’s boy.”

“Sounds like there’s something else there,” he said, a bit of a suspicious look coloring his features.

“Only ’cuz it brought up problems with our last employer right before we moved up here…” Duff gently grabbed the older paramedic’s hand. “He and I are both gay, and we’ve been in a relationship for upwards of three Years now.”

“That so?”

Turning, they saw another man in the doorway, and they could only assume that he was the EMS Chief.

“Chief Redstone, EMS,” he chuckled.

“Bobby Dall,” the taller brunette responded, holding out his free hand.

“Richie Kotzen,” his friend said, taking his turn moments later.

“So, what’s this I walked in on aboutcha being gay?” he queried as he cocked a brow curiously.

Taking a deep breath, Bobby repeated what his blonde boyfriend had just told his own boss, particularly about their being together. But since he wanted to give full disclosure, rather than have a bad situation sneak up on them later, he admitted that there was a lil more to it. Neither of the Romantic pair tried to hide the fact that they’d a shared boyfriend who worked elsewhere, ’cuz it was certainly true.

After a few moments and a shared look, both Chiefs turned their attention back to the quartet before them. They both agreed that they didn’t particularly care about that kinda thing, as long as there was no hanky-panky going on in the firehouse. If they decided to engage in PDA, they’d be wiseta make sure they hid in a storage closet and locked the door or something. Both agreed that they’d rather they simply wait till their Days off when they were at home, but as long as they didn’t see more than simple hand-holding and chaste kisses, they weren’t saying anything.

From there, they turned their attention to finding out more about their new recruits’ experience and qualifications. They weren’t surprised to find out that Duff and Judd both possessed enough experience between them to damn near outdo the rest of their current crew. They also weren’t surprised to find out that the taller paramedic’d almost as much experience as they did in his own field. But their attention was caught by the shorter brunette for a couple different reasons, starting with him wincing.

“Ya all right, son?” Chief Redstone queried, a concerned look overtaking his features.

“Just my back acting up a lil bit, sir,” he answered with a chuckle.

“Bad back from childhood or something?” Chief Blackwood asked.

“Actually, no.” Richie shook his head as he managed to straighten to his full height. “Nasty accident in the Summer of 1991.”

Both of them looked intrigued and motioned for him to continue.

“Sedan versus a big rig,” the shorter brunette explained. “If I hadn’t hunched over my steering wheel, I’d have gotten my head ripped off like it was part of a kid’s toy or something.”

“Jeez,” the Fire Chief winced.

“Yeah, spent the better part of a couple Years wheelchair-bound,” he told them. “The first six months was ’cuz I honestly had no choice–after that, it was when I reached my limit while going through physical therapy.”

“So, you’re not at a hundred percent, even now?” the EMS Chief queried.

“I can vouch and say that you’d _think_ he was, if ya didn’t know about the wreck,” Bobby chuckled. “I was one of the paramedics who treated him on-scene.”

Chief Redstone looked even more intrigued.

“Trust me, I thought he was nuts when he said he wanted to join me in my line of work, if at all possible,” the taller brunette said. “But he was determined, and he did as well as any other paramedic that was ever employed by Wolf Lodge EMS while I was there.”

“I guess that just begsta question if you’ve bad Days with your back or not,” the EMS Chief mused.

“Occasionally, but I know my limits,” Richie assured him. “If I feel like it’s gonna be _that_ bad a Day, I’d rather tell ya I need to man the desk for the Day as opposed to cost someone’s Life on a call ’cuz I can’t do my job.”

“I can work with and respect that, son,” he told him, nodding.

“Anybody else got anything we need to know about?” Chief Blackwood queried.

“Asthma and panic attacks for me,” Duff answered. “The latter only acts up if I get trapped somewhere, or if my asthma does.”

“Does your asthma act up very often?” he asked.

“Usually not unless I get into thick Smoke without a respirator, or the one I have is leaky,” the blonde told him. “Honestly, it hasn’t acted up since our shared boyfriend and I ran up on an ethanol Fire a few Years ago, and I stupidly tried to get too close without any gear.”

“Keep your inhaler on ya, just in case,” the Fire Chief said sternly. “And for the Love of all that’s Holy, let us know, if we’ve to getcha in the back of an ambulance for treatment.”

“Even if _he_ doesn’t, I will,” Bobby assured them. “Beyond that, I’m severely allergic to Bee stings, but I can’t think of anything else pertinent like that.”

Nodding, both Chiefs agreed that it was Time to see them in action, starting with them all being tested on their speed with getting into turnout gear. While the brunettes were Primarily paramedics, there might be a Time that they were needed for actually putting out a Fire before any patients could be tended to–assuming there _were_ any patients, that is. Both needed to be able to get into their turnout gear quickly and efficiently, or they’d risk getting burnt to a crisp by any Fires they were called to.

All four guys were more than glad to be put through their paces and prove that they were capable of doing what was asked of them. In fact, they couldn’t help their grins as they proved to be even quicker about donning said turnout gear than all of those already serving this particular department. Even Judd proved to be faster than his new coworkers, which was a bit of a surprise since pretty much everything was done at a slower pace in Texas. Still, it was a good thing that they proved to be able to fulfill such an integral task since it was so important to their jobs.

Once they’d proven that much, the Chiefs gathered the rest of the Fire and EMS crewsta introduce them to the new quartet. Duff kept his arm wrapped around his shorter brunette boyfriend in a gesture that was equally protective and possessive. He even made it quite clear that if anyone started fuckin’ with him, he wouldn’t be the only pissed-off boyfriend they’d need to worry about.

Considering that there were no calls at the moment, even Richie was interested in finding out what they usually got called out to. After all, being new to the area, they weren’t nearly as familiar with what was typical for them and what wasn’t. It turned out that they got a lotta calls for the general shit found in the City, which wasn’t much of a surprise. They’d all lived in a big City at one point or another, each of those Cities coming with their own unique challenges for Fire and EMS. But the thing that was a bit of a surpriseta them was being told they tended to get a lotta calls up on something referred to as the _Haul Road_. Well, it wasn’t necessarily the Haul Road itself, but rather the first eighty-to-ninety miles of it, which was actually the Elliot Highway.

It was a couple hours before the first call came in, and none of those who’d been working here for a while were surprised that their scene was about twenty miles away. About ten miles North of the small Town of Fox, it was about ten miles further than where the newcomers’d settled and started their homestead. They weren’t quite as familiar with the area, but it gave them an idea of how remote of a place they were starting to get into. But they were all excited to get out on their first call, which was gonna include the Fairbanks PD since it was a vehicular accident and they were the closest who could respond at the Time.


End file.
